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Elena's Blog

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Talking to the walls

I am desperate. I don't know what to do anymore. It feels like talking to the walls... and I wonder what I have done so wrong in my childhood in order to deserve this at mature age. I wish that, as so many parenting books exist, how to make a stubborn child obey, eat or take medicine, it should also exist books how to take care of old parents. How to make a stubborn 89 years old eat, or take the medicines according to the posted schedule (and to my phone calls, because I never let it only to the

Elena

Elena

Write a novel instead!

One hears it so often from RPG partners - "If you don't like it, go write a novel (or fanfiction) instead!" But is this really the solution, instead of talking with the writing partners and finding by negotiation and compromise a solution matching everyone's writing needs, halfway? Writing a novel? Been there, done that (in my mother tongue) - several novel-length stories. (The list is somewhere here, in this blog, but given that it doesn't allow me to past links in words anymore, I give up sea

Elena

Elena

Writing alone

I have been writing since I learnt to write. I remember being praised and having my compositions and poems featured on the wall gazette in second-third grade, and when I was about 13 I discovered at a general cleaning a notebook where I wrote a story in the first grade, about a witch who flew over a man and turned him into a rabbit. Two or three consistent paragraphs were a lot for a 7 years old...   I started writing longer stories since 12. My first one, 2 notebooks long, was a Western one..

Elena

Elena

What's the appeal of pirate women?

What can they do what pirate men can't? I honestly can't understand their appeal (and I have 2 pirate men).   I am honestly exasperated. Pirate women existed, indeed. But they were damn rare, and not exactly in command position.   Yes, you'll say Grace O'Malley, Sayida Al Hurra and Ching Shih But even they were more pirate ship owners than captains, and they had captains to actually command the ship. Pirate men were plenty. Some ships allowed no women aboard, others had 2-3 w

Elena

Elena

Longing for a real community

This was posted more in depth on my personal blog, where I can insert the photos how I want them to look (what here I can't manage. Probably it is possible, but I am too anti-technicus to figure out how. Last time I tried I got my whole gallery linked to a blog post.)   Longing for a real community   The struggle is real, and I am more and more convinced that what I am actually longing for does not exist.    I wish for a dedicated community of writers – as many or a

Elena

Elena

I don't care anymore

I DO care about my site. I love it, and I am glad that our interactive swashbuckling story is already eight years old, and counting, and that I can also count on a few people since six- eight years ago. This is an important achievement.    BUT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE if some people think it's not active enough (it is, just way slower than it used to be). I don't care if those newer members decide suddenly a long time investment isn't worth and they leave. I had to accept the idea that the

Elena

Elena

Another one bites the dust

Another site I have been writing on, gone. Another time I have been among the most devoted members, left, together with a few others, to switch off the light. I feel hurt and sad because this happened... and at the same time, somehow relieved that it's a place where I don't owe posts anymore. But the petty relief is trumped by the sadness. I am sorry, Morrigan, if you are reading this, because the gif I asked was for this site, which during this week-end announced its closure. Man

Elena

Elena

Guilty of fangirling, still I hate it

I am annoyed with fangirling over playbys, especially when it happens in the c-box (or in the messengers where I want to discuss plot twists, not how cute/ hot/ etc is one or another actor). I thought I wasn't doing it... But it seems I am wrong, and maybe I am annoyed because I have different tastes.   Still, I prefer fangirling over plots, characters and writing techniques, not over playbys. Over the action per se, the story twists and the character motivations, because these should

Elena

Elena

Character development

It comes with being on the site for a while, and with actively writing. It comes with character's goals too, no matter how time and concrete conditions might twist them.    After a while, characters can switch factions, and it is all right.     It took a while for me to understand that it is all right, but now (and for a while, not only now) I understand it. In the first two years of roleplaying, I didn't understand it because I was thinking only at the freshly reopened slot

Elena

Elena

Nothing happens if you don't write

You say you like your character. OK, then maybe you know that no character development can happen unless you post regularly and get involved with him in the story. That a character grows through interaction with other characters, while doing his duty, while partying or while fighting. There can be (and are recommended to be) individual plots too. But, again, just planning them and not actually writing them doesn't count. He has to be actively part of the story if you want exciting things to happ

Elena

Elena

Pieces of wisdom from another site

I wrote them on pictures and kept them as motivational posters. And it doesn't matter that one mentions a site, since said site closed in 2013: Everyone has high and low moments. These help for the low moments.

Elena

Elena

Religion

I understand that not all the characters are religious. However, if a religion is mentioned in a character's bio, one should use it at least a little - even if it means to highlight that he has evolved and doesn't believe anymore, and that his current beliefs aren't the same with the ones he was taught in childhood. Not to have it written in the bio, then act as if it was never mentioned. Why bother then to mention it in the first place?   This is twice as valid when it is about somebo

Elena

Elena

I don't care anymore

I DON'T CARE ANYMORE (Or so I say in this moment; tomorrow I might discover that I am actually caring, and just attempting to grow a shield around myself).   I want to write with everybody, and I see lots of character opportunities which remain unused. No fault of mine; I have shown them to everybody, they have been invited into threads, for certain plots the NPCs and characters for adoption had been publicly advertised, together with their plot opportunities. If nobody is interes

Elena

Elena

Just bitching today

Yes, I would need some sweet bread to make my day sweeter. Not that I have anything particular to resent today as I do. I guess some days of this kind just happen, when everything already piled up starts hurting and mattering. I have an exam today and I haven't studied enough. No time. I have a hard day at work too... and I am just taking a little break from it now. It is rainy for several days and I feel it in my bones, in my head, in everything. And I have deadlines for my s

Elena

Elena

No commitment is the worst

I have learnt that nothing can be achieved without full involvement and commitment. That you reap what you sow, and the effort bears fruit. In a hobby, giving yourself without half measures brings the satisfaction of achievement, and many other subsidiary ones. But it seems most people dont know to live, to give themselves, to commit. They are lukewarm, not inspired, not excited, not invested, lacking any commitment. You cant build a house on sand; you can build it only on stone or on wood

Elena

Elena

Wrong characters for the ongoing story

I guess each RPG - which is a collectively written story - gets sometimes the misfit. But while we encourage the misfit as a character in various ship crews, as a personality interesting to explore in the interaction with other characters, we don't encourage the lone wolf in a creative endeavour based on collectivities (ship crews). Yes, the odd one or two might happen, as secondary characters, forging their paths among the collectives - but they are rare sights. (Exactly how women sailors

Elena

Elena

An innocent's execution

The execution The day of the execution soon arrived, when a crowd of thousands of people of all ages and social conditions assembled to witness Chago's last few minutes on this earth. It was the first execution of this kind to take place in Kanesville in the latest ten years or so. The judge had wanted an example out of him, discouraging such deeds in his precious town. Chago had time to get resigned to his fate. He was still wondering, though, who was the Judas among the Steamhawke

Elena

Elena

Mutiny I - death of a young rigger

Mutiny - Part I: Death of a young rigger The boatswain, that everybody except Antoine Lemieux knew under the name of Jacques Fresne, was looking at his mate at his son, with approval. The lad was learning. He was getting better at mastering the art of being obeyed by the sailors. On his side, Jacque was barking his orders to the riggers, to work quicker and better. Claude, afraid of the man, hurried to pull a line through a block and it fell back, hitting Jacque in the face. The boatswa

Elena

Elena

Mutiny II - death of the third lieutenant

Mutiny part II - Death of the third lieutenant On the other side of the ship, Fernand wanted to approach Patrick, who was holding the young boatswain’s mate. He had something to tell him now too, that it seemed the atmosphere changed and the young man’s protector wasn’t there anymore. The men were in commotion, ready to stand up against the bully, following the Breton’s example they had witnessed. Others were shouting the name of another boatswain’s mate they had a bone to pick with, and

Elena

Elena

Mutiny III - Death of the accursed boatswain

Mutiny Part III - Death of the accursed boatswain Elouan had seen from the rigging the dog’s attempts to save the man he hated the most, and he silently prayed to God not to let it happen. Jacque Gasquet was trying his best to swim and remain alive, hoping that somebody would throw him a rope or something. He was tired and in pain, as the Breton had strong fists and the boatswain had always been accustomed to give deadly blows, not to receive them. Not to mention the way he fell from

Elena

Elena

I feel I am the strangest exhibit in the window

I feel like the strangest exhibit in the window Yes, I do, every time I read certain posts on a resource site - be it this one or another. As if I am the oddest being among the others.... who think in a hivemind. And I am still trying in vain to find a writing buddy to match my way of seeing things. It is impossible to be the only one, since my opinions weren't created in a void, but after reading enough creative writing articles from various writers. It is impossible to not find somebody who

Elena

Elena

Looking for identity - half, or partly?

LOOKING FOR IDENTITY: HALF, OR PARTLY?     How often have you heard or said "I'm half, or part Jewish"? You surely have heard it at least, and the wisdom of some Native American elders has something to teach you in this respect. A very touching example, which can be applied successfully to us as well, was told by a physician from Oregon, Les Tate, who discovered as an adult that he was Indian. This is his story, from which each of us has something to learn:    

Elena

Elena

Relationships

I think in a RPG, like in any story worth telling, the characters have friends, enemies, siblings, sometimes parents or children, workmates, sometimes a love interest/ fiancee/ spouse. And all these do flesh out the characters, allowing the reader to see different aspects of their personalities. Even the one who saves the world (depending on setting), can't do it alone, he still needs friends and workmates in order to accomplish it. (And enemies to attempt to hinder his endeavour). But

Elena

Elena

A world crushing blast

There was once upon a time a site... which had been on life support for more than one year. There had been three writers left, then us two, and a post at more than one month wasn't enough. There had to be an end to the site sometime. I hoped my partner would do the last post, but ultimately I had to do it. And I just did it. The town the story was happening in went off in a blast. If there were any survivors by miracle, their story is not told. It's a follow up for anyone or no one to write

Elena

Elena

A historical approach on childbirth and pregnancy

Somebody said, in a post on another site, about realistic pregnancy in historical context: "It would be pretty realistic for a pregnancy to end in a miscarriage, or for the child to die at birth or be stillborn - health care back in the early nineteenth century was pretty rudimentary, after all. To get pregnant and give birth carried HUGE risks for the woman and if the child was born safely, odds were good that it wouldn't live past the age of five..." While I do agree with her, this realis

Elena

Elena

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